Lisa Batiashvili

Lisa Batiashvili ‒ Biography

“. . . Lisa Batiashvili’s radiant performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto. She brings out all the great work’s drama, mystery, excitement and lyrical intensity. The final march is irresistibly joyful.”

Lisa Batiashvili is one of the world’s most sought-after violinists, praised by audiences and fellow musicians for her virtuosity and “profound sensitivity” (Financial Times). In Europe she frequently works with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the major London orchestras. In the US, she performs every season with the New York Philharmonic and regularly returns to the other top orchestras.

Highlights in Lisa’s 2013/14 season include a tour to Asia with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert and a European tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Yannick Nézet-Séguin). She also performs with The Philadelphia Orchestra (Nézet-Séguin), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (David Zinman), and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Tugan Sokhiev), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Mariss Jansons) and the Philharmonia Orchestra (Esa-Pekka Salonen). She continues her collaboration with pianist Paul Lewis in a series of recitals in Paris, Brussels and Hamburg, and presents a new Bach ensemble project with oboist François Leleux.

Recently announced as the New York Philharmonic’s 2014/15 Artist-in-Residence, Lisa held the position of Capell-Virtuosin with Staatskapelle Dresden during the 2012/13 season, performing a wide range of concerts with its Principal Conductor Christian Thielemann. She was also Artist in Residence with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and appeared with Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim at their annual outdoor concert in front of an audience of 38,000.

Lisa Batiashvili records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. In her new album – to be released in August 2014 – she presents a fine selection of chamber and orchestral music by Johann Sebastian Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Her latest album – featuring the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann and Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for violin and piano with pianist Alice Sara Ott – was released in 2013. In 2011, she received an ECHO Klassik for her debut album on the label, Echoes of Time, which includes Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

A dedicated chamber musician, Lisa has appeared at the Salzburg, Edinburgh International, Schleswig-Holstein, Heimbach and Verbier festivals, and tours regularly with musicians such as oboist François Leleux, violist Lawrence Power and cellist Sebastian Klinger. Lisa’s commitment to new music has seen her give several world premieres in recent seasons, including of Magnus Lindberg’s Violin Concerto.

Lisa Batiashvili gained international recognition at age 16 as the youngest-ever competitor in the Sibelius Competition, where she took second prize. In 2003 she was named winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival’s Leonard Bernstein Award and was later awarded the Beethoven Ring Prize from the Beethoven Festival Bonn. In 2008 Lisa was honoured with the MIDEM Classical Award and the Choc de l’année for her Sony recording of Sibelius’s and Lindberg’s Violin Concertos. The same year she received an Echo Klassik award as “Young Artist of the Year”. She is also the winner of the prestigious International Accademia Musicale Chigiana Prize in Siena.

Lisa studied with Professor Ana Chumachenko in Munich, having previously worked with Professor Mark Lubotski. She plays the 1715 ex-Joachim Stradivarius, kindly loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation.